Celtic have put in some shaky displays in recent weeks. In their Scottish Cup fourth round tie, they took a 12th-minute lead through Callum McGregor but then, Kilmarnock ended up equalising right before the break. It was Bobby Wales who scored for the visitors but the goal was not without its controversy.
Kasper Schmeichel was left unhappy after Wales equalised for Kilmarnock and appealed to referee Nick Walsh. The Danish goalkeeper felt that the goal should have been ruled out due to a handball in the build-up.
Schmeichel had a point as well. Replays showed that the ball had deflected off the arm of Robbie Deas in the box before Wales had found the back of the net.
A VAR check did take place but there was no intervention as the goal stood. And now, there is some clarification on the rules, which show why Kilmarnock did indeed equalise against Celtic although a similar one might have been ruled out before 2021, when a rule change took place when it comes to such instances.
Why controversial Kilmarnock goal was not ruled out vs Celtic
As reported by The Herald, the IFAB correspondence read:
"Accidental handball that leads to a team-mate scoring a goal or having a goal-scoring opportunity will no longer be considered an offence."
If Deas had scored the goal himself then it would have been ruled out in that instance. But since he did not, but a teammate did, it rightfully stood.
It is easy to dwell on situations like this but the best path forward is to move on as quickly as possible and focus on the rest of the Hoops. That is something that a champion side like Celtic will know well.
Of course, there are many who will feel hard done by and understandably so, there is no way to argue with the clearly laid rules of the game. Fortunately, the Hoops did manage to go ahead in the second half through Daizen Maeda, who again proved his importance to this team.